Anybody body know virtualwalkthrough.com?437

I ran across these guys today. What technology are they using? I LOVE the floor plan with the dimensions and the locator in the lower right corner of their showcase - that certainly would be something I would like to see on the matterport wish list.
Does anybody have any info on them? Are they service providers only or do they have a camera system/model? How does it compare to Matterport? Are they a threat or just another one of us?
Anyone?

I believe what they do is link an integrated series of 360 panoramic photos, they do not create a 3D model. On a good sized monitor, I believe the sensation of moving through a home is much more realistic with Matterport than with a stitched-360 system, the transition from one scan point to the next appears much more natural with Matterport.

Thanks for the replies. Their tours are pretty clear and not the like some of the stitched 360s I have seen. The pricing (~.13/sf)seems pretty reasonable and includes the model, stills, the floor plan and the location indicator. I am comparing the models on my 27" Mac monitor and I am not seeing that much of a difference. I haven't tested them on my mobile platforms yet.

The models on the Toursler site include some frankly pretty amazing outdoor space (with blue skies and sun directly overhead).

I haven't seen Toursler or VirtualWalkThrough in my market but I would really like to understand what they are using and how to differentiate if/when I do have to compete directly - again, their prices are seem pretty aggressive (I understand the models on the website could be higher quality than the typical).

They say that their camera captures some dimensions, while you need to do some manual measurements as well. I haven't seen the camera, but I would guess that it is a 360 panorama rig with some special tech.

Their offer for us was to licence the gear (to enable upgrades etc.) and charge monthly fee, while also charge per every model created. We didn't feel that the deal was attractive compared to matterport.

We have been pushing Matterport to develop their product to match competition. I think the Facebook integration is something that matterport should be able to do fairly easy, and they should definitely do it!

There's nothing unique about what they're offering. If you do a 360 virtual tours search you'll find loads of companies who offer this service. You can buy an application which stitched the pano's (shot on a DSLR with a 8mm lens) together for not much money and do the same thing. If your are a Google Trusted Photographer who shoots for Business View you can use their application.

In no way does any of these so called VT's compare to MP. MP is seamless in its movements and you don't have those hideous arrows throughout the VT. The only thing that any of these services have going for them is their exterior shots as well as syncing to a floor plan.

The floor plan syncing is something which MP could easily do if they had the inhouse talent to do so. Sadly I no longer think they do or they're totally focused on the mobile shooter who will shoot VT on their phone or tablet. This is why they just received their next round of funding $30m.

Those of use who have been around for a while have seen many of these so called new options fall by the way side once the new round of funding rounds kicks in as the funders are dictating how MP is going to spend their investment. Their new marching order are on mobile, lets just hope that they don't forget those who invested early on in MP with promises of new things to come which haven't happen to-date.

@GarySnyder I'm curious why they would focus on phones and tablets, as that would presumably lose them revenue from the sale of cameras, unless cameras are not a money maker for them. Would they be licensing the software at a significant cost? And would they expect these devices to deliver similar or better images and results? Not questions for you as such--just questions about where their strategy is leading us.

Their money will be made in the ongoing processing fees. The cameras just get you "addicted" to them, now they have the ability to make decisions that will affect our future without much for us to do about it.... I think there is a 12 step group for this.. MPA?

Mike, You have to understand that there will be millions of new smartphones and tablets which will come standers with 3D capture capability and someone will need to turn these captures into a VT and that someone is MP, it also the reason they just received $30m to develop this technology fully.

Now if you were MP and you had a few hundred MP camera users shooting "if we're lucky" on VT a day. Or to put it even simpler let’s say that there are 500 cameras out in the field, which I doubt and we're all paying $99 per month that $49,500 PM or $594,000 annually. You have to ask yourself would you sink $30m into a company that turns over $600k plus the sales from the camera, I don't think so.

Now let’s just jump into our time machine and go to 2017 and now we have conservatively 10m 3D equip phones and tablets and each person shoots a VT a month. Now since MP is so big hearted they only charge these folks $5 to stitch their VT and deliver it to them in their showcase. Well that works out to be a pettily sum of $25m PM or $300m PY . Now I ask what would you do spend all of your research dollars on a camera that you make a couple of mil a year or say thanks guy and gals for your initial support which enabled us to raise $45m over the last 18 months but were moving on to bigger and better things.

I have seen this too. I wouldn't get too caught up with these 360 photo tours. As Gary said, the future is 3D.

I met with one of the countries largest real estate brokers here and they were trying to work out how much it cost for them to back out of a deal they signed with a 360 photo company because they liked the Matterport captures so much better. 360 photos have terrible problems with fish-eye; the photo is projected on to a 3D sphere and that is why you often get pixelation and vertigo when you move. The company realized that if they have customers trying this with Occulus Rifts or Sony Morpheous they could have some bad social media from nauseated customers. Matterport holds the 360 photos against the 3D data running in the background, which is why it looks so good when you pan up, down, left and right or when you transition from spot to spot.

The real difference is that Matterport is trying to bridge the gap between photo and 3D visualization. When smartphones had CPUs and GPS data, we got realtime directions, the speed we job at, the cheapest station to fill up with gas. Once you have the input, the software can do the rest. The same will be true with 3D sensors; in the future, you will be able to deck out your entire home before you have even made a bid, remodel by just sending an architect a file, buy your furniture and electronics by seeing them in better Augmented Reality.

Those that have Google Businessview (which is what the above example is I believe) will have to get a 3D capture so that customers can see where they will sit at a restaurant, what view they get from the concert tickets they buy. For real estate, Businessview is a slower, more expensive tour. Moreover, customers who want to take advantage of all that 3D has to offer will spend hours on their hands and knees with their 3D smartphone thinking "Why didn't my estate agent do this, Matterport has been around for ages!".